Means for reshaping bags filled with fluent material



April 1945- R. BREHTEL MEANS FOR RESHAPNG BAGS FILLED WITH FLUENT MATERIL;

Filed Jan. 15, 1944 Patented Apr. 10, 1945 'FFICE l MEANS FOR RESHAPIN G BAGS FILLED WITH FLUENT MATERIAL Robert H. Brechtel, Sebewaing, Micl. i

Application January 15, 1944, Serial No. 518A'73 2 Claims.

This invention relates to means for smoothing out sacks containing granular materialwhich is so unevenly distributed therein as to give the package an undesirable tapered form.

More specifically, the improvement pertains to belt conveyor and an idler roller, the latter being so Situated relatively to the upper end of the automatic means for shaping such` sacks to uniform thickness throughout their length, with the, side walls of the sack substantially parallel.

For example, granulated sugar as it comes from the mill is usually put up in loo-pound, sacks. To fill the sack it is supported on the platform of an automatic weigh scale and. the correct Weight of sugar is delivered to the sack which is then closed,` as by an automatic valve flap in the mouth of the sack. The newly filled. sack is not of uniform cross-sectional size, being largest at the bottom and .tapered to a ridge at the top.

A storage pile of such tapered sacks ten to twenty feet high is almost sure to be insecure and unstable. But if each sack is of uniform. thickness throughout its lengththe piles can be.` built up accurately more securely and withllessv effort and expense because the stackersiare not required to sort or reverse them whenpiling.

vHeretofore, it has been common practicefor a workman to correct the tapered shape by jouncing the sack and then by hand casting the top of: the sack down onto the floor so as to drive some of the contents from thebody portion towardthe upper part or mouth portion; thus tending to. produce a more nearly uniform. crosssectional. shape and size throughout the length of the sack body. However, with loo pound sacks that method requires hard manual labor and. considerable-` physical endurance.

In addition to the weighscale attendant asec ond workman Was needed to shape the sacks in the manner above described and put them onto a truck; also, a, third man was required to take the truck to the warehouse or stack-room. My' improvement releases the second man for other: duties and thereby effects a considerable saving! of labor. 1

The principal object isto provide a simple; in expensive, yet effective meansfor automatically smoothing out each sack in regular order so the sacks can be stacked more securely andsafely and at less expense.

In `use, my improved device is adapted tobring, each sack to uniform cross-section while it is being` transported from one place to another on a belt conveyor. I call this operation smoothing out" the sack. 1

The claimed s invention is. a: combination-of. a a

apron where it passes around the delivery pulley of the conveyor as to produce the desired reshaping or smoothing effect.

The method or mode of operation is to pass a tapered sack endwise off the belt conveyor, al-

lowing it to dip downwardly by gravity and roll lengthwise over the idler roller in downward-direction, causing the material to flow so as to mold the sack into uniform parallel-sided 'shape.

With the foregoing objects in view, my inven-v tion embodied in preferred form, comprises the conveyor and to deliver them in desired reworked devices described and claimed and the eguivalents thereof.

In the drawing, Fg. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a conveyor embodying the invention and arranged to transport sacks from a weigh scale platform to a delivery truck; I

Fig. 2 is a dagrammatic side View of a truck with sacks pled thereon as delivered from the conveyor;

Fig. 3 is a side view of a filled and closed sack,

tapered, as it appears before being smoothed by my device;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged diagrammatic view, showing the arrangement and mode of cooperation of the head pulley and the idler roller in smoothing form to a transport truck.

In the drawing, numeral l designates the p1atform of a conventional automatic weigh scale 2 having thereon a sack 3 to receive-the weighed charge.

near any desired point of delivery as a platform' truck l l.

In Fig. 1 the upward angle of inelination of run 4 is less than the normal angle of repose for,

loaded sacks on the belt, so there shall be no rearward slippage. For some uses the angle may be less, or, the run 4 may be horizontal.

A sack-supporting member is provided adjacent Numeral l is the upper run of a conventional conveyor belt supported on rollers tlA.`

the receving pulley and lower than the end of run 4. Preferably it comprises a platform |4 fixed to the frame, 4b, of the conveyor and located so that a sack standing on !4 can be easily toppled over onto the belt run in the `direction of the arrow at !5, Fig. 1.

Fig. &shows a charged sack as it leaves scale platform I, its mouth !2 bein closed. It upper portion l3 i somewhat tapered and loose,4 being not completely filled with material. In an upright sugar filled one-hundred pound sack the height of the material to be smoothed out is about eighty per cent of the total height. When the sack has i been toppled onto the belt run 4 it a dvances thereon, as indicated at [6, while lying lengthwise in the direction of travel. mouth portion l3 arrive at the end of run 4 and starts to project or overhang. It also commences' to tip or sag downwardly, as at ll.

It is near this place that the contents areautomatically smoothed out by my claimed improvement, giving substantially uniorm cross-sectional shape to the sack from end to end.

As the free end of the advancing sack begins` to bend downwardly by gravity upon leaving the upper periphery of pulley 6, the mater'al nearest the mouth portion commences to flow toward !2. Proceeding, the mouth portion encounters the top rim' of a freely rotatable idle roller IB which is supported in fixed relation with and in advance of the delivery pulley 6. supports IQ Secured to the conveyor frame 4b support the idler !8. As the mouth portion continues to advance the freely rotatable idler commences to turn. Its subsequent progressive rolling action on the under ide of the sack, which sags somewhat between G and I8, causes some of the material in the body of 'the sack to be moderately kneaded from beneath and to flow forward. The amount of material already at the mouth portion !2, !3 is thus increased and its greater weight clips the mouth of the sack farther downward and causes a still greater .accumulation of material there. When the sack has advanced far enough to approach a condition of balance over idler IB it wll be found that the combined supporting and rolling actions of the pulley 6 and idler !8 will have brought about an app-oximately even thicknes of material in the package from top to bottom.

In use, when the sack is about to arrive at its balancing or tilting point on !8 the truck attend ant places h s hand under the mouth portion at about the place indicated by the arrow 20. With a very slight lifting efiort he stcadics the end and as the sack rolls off from idler !8 he guides it so it falls onto the platform of a truck l l. The sacks land in regular order on the truck in fairly flatwise position, building a pile, Fig. 2. The supports |9 for idler !8 can be formed or adjusted to suit the requirements for best operation in any gven installation.

The best Operating position of idler !B relative to delivery pulley 6 can be dete'rmined by trial to suit any sized sack, or any material possessfng individual characteristics of flow' etc.

For example, I have found that one-hundredpound sacks of granulated sugar are smoothed out by this device to give satisfactorily uniform crosssection throughout the length of the sack if pulley 6 is twelve-inches diameter and idler !8 s sixinches, and if the axis of idler I& is Situated parallel with the axis of pulley 6 and about 1 inches beyond it. e

Expressed in more general terms, the relative positions of the upper peripheries of said roller The slackly filled and pulley are defined by an assumed or im' aginary plane tangent to both. This plane slopes downwardly from the delivery pulley at an acute angle from the horizontal. The distance on that plane between the points of tangency alluded to is equal to substantially half the length of the sack.

If the upward inclination of run 4 is made approximately thirty degrees from horizontal and if the angle A of downward slope of the tangent plane, 6 to 18, i made about half that amount,

i as shown in Fig. 4, good results will be assured.

When the butt of the sack arrives at the delivery end of run 4 it follows around the periphery of pulley -6 for a short distance. Meanwhile the mouth portion of the sack is being fllled by the initial forward and downward flow of mate'rial from the main -body of the sack, as has been described. The 'resultant increased sag at the overhanging mouth portion !3, !2, due to the increased weight therein, exerts a greater downward and forward pull on the sack. When the butt has moved away from contact with the belt on pulley 6, the sack is proceeding by its own weight. It goes over the idler |8 where the reworking oi' kneading of the material results in creating a uniform cross-sectional size and shape from one end of the ack to the other.

It will now be apparent that my device attain the required rolling out or smoothing efiect by having run 4, pulley 6, and idler !8 arranged so as to cause progressive kneading and bending actions to be applied to the under side wall of the sack while it is passing over the upper periphery of pulley B, and again while passing over the upper periphery of idler l8, and finally causing the mouth portion to flex downwardly and fill by gravity flowas soon as it haspassed idler !8.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a modified arrangement for' my smoothing device. Here the loaded sacks are taken-not from the weigh scale platform described above-but from a high stack of sacks in a warehouse. run 2I of a conventional warehouse unloading conveyor is provided with slats 22 to keep sacks from sliding. sacks from the high tiers are placed on run 2| and are carried down to near the warehouse floor. 'Ihe sacks as they arrive from the downward run 2l are usually out of shape due to the steepness of the run or to Warehouse handling, so it is desirable to smooth them before shipment. Therefore, the slat conveyor delivers them onto the upper run 4 of my device. Thence they pass over pulley 6 and idler !8, where they are smoothed out and dropped onto the platform of a truck l I, or other conveyance, as has been described for Fig. 1.

Heretofore, when the sacks cafne down from the warehouse pile they were usually dropped onto the floor and two men were required to pick them up, jounce and work them into smooth condition, load them onto a truck H and transport the truck to' a shipping platform.

With my improvement each truck attendant guides each sack by hand in regular order as it drops from idler !8 onto his truck. In this case the labor of two men is saved by using my improved device.

Having thus described by invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a means for smoothing out sacks or bags containing fluent material unevenly distributed and for shaping such sacks to uniform thickness framework having thereon a. receiving pulley, a

The downwardly moving delivery pulley and a belt conveyor presenting a. run for sacks of material; an idle roller supported in fixed relation with and in advance of the delivery pulley; the upper peripheries of said delivery pulley and roller being in relative positions defmed by an imaginary plane tangent to both, said plane sloping downwardly to the roller from the delivery pulley at an acute angle from horizontal; the distance in such plane between such points of tangency -being equal to substantially half the length of the sack.

2. Means operatively associated With an inclined belt-type loading conveyor and adapted to smooth out sacks containing unevenly distributed fluent material and to mold such sacks into a condition of substantially uniform thickness throughout their length, such smoothng and molding means comprising an idle roller supported in advance of a delivery pulley of a conveyor; said roller and pulley being Situated relatively to each other with their upper peripheries defined by an assumed plane tangent to both, such plane sloping downwardly from the rdelivery pulley to the roller at an acute angle from the horizontal; -the distance between such points of tangency in said assumed plane being equal to substantially one half the length of the sack.

ROBERT' H. BRECH'I'EL. 

